September 11 7am-8am
This is a new article. As such is has been set to unassessed. 7:00 a.m. -9:03 a.m. September 11, 2001: Preparations Continue at New York Pier for September 12 Bioterrorism Exercise At Pier 92 on the , preparations are underway for a training exercise due to take place there the following day. The exercise, called Tripod, which had been scheduled months earlier, is intended to test how well New York’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) can administer treatment in response to a biological-terrorism attack (see September 12, 2001). YORK MAGAZINE, 10/15/2001; GIULIANI, 2002, PP. 355 Pier 92, located just over four miles north-northwest of the World Trade Center, has been set up as a model distribution station where the simulated victims will be treated. AND EDWARDS-WINSLOW, 9/2003, PP. 15 AND 20 Ken Longert, the owner of a theatrical lighting business, arrives at the pier at 7:00 a.m. to help get the place ready for the exercise. He will later recall, “Two or three hundred cadets with the New York police and fire departments were there, learning the proper procedures in case some kind of disaster hit New York.” Longert will recall that, seconds after the second WTC tower is hit at 9:03, “all the people from OEM disappeared” from the pier. 2007, PP. 457-458 After OEM’s original command center is destroyed when —where it is located—collapses (see (5:20 p.m.) September 11, 2001), Pier 92 will be selected as the location for the substitute command center. COMMISSION, 5/19/2004 Members of OEM staff have also arrived early this morning at the OEM offices in WTC 7 to prepare for the exercise (see 8:48 a.m. September 11, 2001). AND EDWARDS-WINSLOW, 9/2003, PP. 15 (7:00 a.m.-7:45 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Computer Screening Program Selects Some Hijackers; Fails to Stop Them Sometime during this period, the hijackers pass through airport security checkpoints at the various airports. The FAA has a screening program in called CAPPS. POST, 1/28/2004 CAPPS selects three of the five Flight 11 hijackers. Since Waleed Alshehri checked no bags, his selection had no consequences. Wail Alshehri and Satam Al Suqami have their bags scanned for explosives, but are not stopped. No Flight 175 hijackers are selected. Only Ahmad Alhaznawi is selected from Flight 93. His bag is screened for explosives, but he is not stopped. The 9/11 Commission later concludes that Alhaznawi and Ahmed Alnami, also headed to Flight 93, have suspicious indicators and that they could have been linked to al-Qaeda upon inspection, but it has not been explained why or how. COMMISSION, 1/27/2004; BALTIMORE SUN, 1/27/2004 7:40 a.m. September 11, 2001: Flight 11 Pushes Back from Gate; Reports Conflict over Which Gate It Leaves From American Airlines Flight 11 pushes back from the gate at Logan Airport. There are discrepancies over which gate it leaves from. Most early reports state that it pushes out from Gate 26 in Terminal B of the airport. GLOBE, 9/12/2001; CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 9/13/2001; DAILY TELEGRAPH, 9/16/2001; WASHINGTON POST, 9/16/2001; BERNSTEIN, 2002, PP. 179; DER SPIEGEL, 2002, PP. 36 However, one unnamed Logan Airport employee will say it leaves from Gate 32, also in Terminal B. GLOBE, 9/11/2001 The transcript of radio communications with the flight confirms it left from Gate 32, and the 9/11 Commission also later states this. YORK TIMES, 10/16/2001; The reason for the discrepancy in these reports is unclear. [[Flight 11], a with a capacity of 158 passengers, is about half full on this day, with 81 passengers on board (including the five hijackers), along with the two pilots and nine flight attendants. (7:59 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Flight 11 Is Late Taking Off Flight 11 takes off from Logan Airport, 14 minutes after its scheduled 7:45 departure time. POST, 9/12/2001; CNN, 9/17/2001; LOS ANGELES TIMES, 9/20/2001; GUARDIAN, 10/17/2001; ABC NEWS, 7/18/2002; ASSOCIATED PRESS, 8/21/2002; NEWSDAY, 9/10/2002; 9/11 COMMISSION, 6/17/2004 Category:Timeline